Jiu Feng’s ghost carriage moved at extreme speed, with countless bells hanging from it. When flying forward against the wind, the commotion was comparable to a hundred ghosts traveling together. Combined with the riot of purple and crimson colors—more than ten types of flowers that bloomed in different seasons but were forcibly gathered together—the process of crossing cities always drew countless onlookers and heated discussions.
During this process, Xue Yu and the others once again experienced the financial prowess of the Demon Capital.
“I already knew the Demon Capital was wealthy before.” Chao Nian watched as Jiu Feng signed that long string of penalty notices without batting an eye, shaking his head and clicking his tongue repeatedly: “I didn’t expect them to be this wealthy.”
“This is nothing.” Having spent several days on the ghost carriage, Jiu Feng got along well with these young people. Upon hearing this, he snorted with laughter and said: “The five great families of the Demon Capital—which young master doesn’t travel with hundreds of servants, making a grand spectacle through the streets?”
“You little brats are just too rule-abiding, haven’t seen the grand world.”
While they were talking, Xue Yu rarely came out for fresh air. After hearing these exchanges, she suddenly asked: “The five great families of the Demon Capital—are they still the same households as before?”
In this world, the Demon Capital appeared quite mysterious, so mysterious that it had even become disconnected from the mortal world. Ordinary people couldn’t enter, Sacred Land inheritors like Xue Yu couldn’t enter, and even the Heavenly Secret Book would disappear on its own after entering sheepishly.
Over time, apart from themselves, few people knew what it was like inside or how the power was distributed. They could only occasionally learn bits and pieces of information from the mouths of great demons like Jiu Feng, who came to the mortal world to travel.
“No, there have been slight adjustments compared to before.” Jiu Feng squinted his eyes and lazily basked in the sun. Upon hearing her question, he turned his head to look at her a few times, slowly drawing out his tone to explain: “The Wen family has fallen, and a new household has squeezed up.”
“The Wen family? How could the Wen family fall?” Shan Shu exchanged glances with Xue Yu, opening her mouth with some surprise: “I remember that five years ago in the Demon Capital family rankings, the Wen family was still ranked second, second only to the Jiu Feng clan.”
Unlike the Sacred Lands, the demon race emphasized bloodline, so they usually practiced strong marriages between the powerful. The top-ranked families were often related by blood, with bones broken but tendons still connected. For the Wen family to fall directly from second place out of the top five, there must have been some fatal mistake.
“They offended a family of madmen and were forcibly beaten down.” When Jiu Feng mentioned this, as if thinking of some scene he didn’t want to recall, he shrugged and shook his head, saying: “This matter is complicated to explain. The newly promoted family isn’t some prestigious clan with deep foundations, nor did they fight the Wen family for the title of the five great families. They fought simply because they lost a child in their family, and the Wen family spoke inappropriately, hitting the muzzle of their gun at just the right moment.”
“That family is very mysterious. To this day, we still haven’t figured out their background. We don’t even know what their true forms are. We only saw a pair of long wings when that family’s father and son dueled with the Wen family’s patriarch and elders.” Jiu Feng patted Su Yun on the shoulder before continuing: “When I left, the old man at home was still worrying about this matter, turning books back and forth. Even though his head grew big from flipping, he couldn’t find any clues.”
“Hey, we’re almost there.” Jiu Feng pointed far ahead at the layers of mist piled on the mountains, saying: “In another half hour, we’ll be able to descend above Suzhou City.”
Xue Yu snapped back from the matter of the Demon Capital family ranking changes, responding softly: “Find a secluded place to stop. Don’t startle the snake in the grass.”
The ghost carriage finally stopped halfway up a desolate mountain. At this time, dawn was about to break in Suzhou, with the morning light faint. Both the mountain and the area below were shrouded in a layer of thin mist. When the mountain wind blew, the mist was like flowing light gauze, drilling into the emerald green mountain forest and emerging with a completely different color.
Jiu Feng gazed into the distance, and before long, impatiently withdrew his gaze, asking Xue Yu: “Such a large place—where do we start looking?”
“Don’t worry about other places for now. Focus on investigating the south of the city.” Xue Yu looked toward Chao Nian, who was clever and puffed out his chest, saying, “Miss, rest assured. Later, we’ll split up and act separately. I’ll take Liang Yan and Qing Luo to the inns and restaurants in the south of the city to ask around, and we’ll also look and ask around those small alleys and street corners.”
“Then tell me, what exactly should you ask about?” Seeing Chao Nian volunteer so eagerly and confidently, Xue Yu couldn’t help but ask in a light tone.
“Ask, ask—” Chao Nian suddenly got stuck.
“You don’t need to ask much. Since that alchemist took the lamp, he must know what happened in the Mist-to-City incident and knows even more that we’re about to arrive in Suzhou to investigate the lamp’s whereabouts. Suzhou is his territory. We’ve just arrived, and if we go to restaurants asking about the south of the city, eight or nine times out of ten we’ll be watched.” Su You stood beside Xue Yu, tall and elegant, his voice unhurried: “You just need to wander around various places, pay more attention to the strange and interesting things that have happened recently in other people’s conversations, and don’t act rashly for now.”
Chao Nian looked toward Xue Yu. Xue Yu nodded slightly, then turned to Su You, saying, “You go with them too, and teach them more.”
At this moment, Shan Shu pulled at her skirt hem. Seeing that she had arranged everything, she stepped forward and said: “Miss A Yu, I’ll first go to the local Buddhist temple. There’s a technique from the Northern Wilderness that might be able to play a tracking role.”
Xue Yu nodded: “That would be even better.”
“You all do your thing, don’t mind me. I’ll take the little ghost around to see the world.” Jiu Feng tugged at the bell on the ghost carriage, saying: “Just tell me when you find clues about that alchemist.”
With this arrangement, Su You took Chao Nian and the others to gather information and understand the local customs and culture. Shan Shu and her female attendant went to the Buddhist temple. Jiu Feng took Tao Zhi and Su Yun to wander around the city. Xue Yu was left to act alone.
Su You frowned slightly, his gaze sweeping toward Chao Nian. Chao Nian suddenly had a delayed reaction and said, “Miss, let me follow you. In this unfamiliar Suzhou, if you encounter any tricky situations while traveling alone, how can you not have even a single person to command?”
Xue Yu looked at him twice, as if weighing her words. After a long moment, she spoke bluntly and stiffly: “Your cultivation level is insufficient. You’ll easily expose us, and following won’t be useful.”
Chao Nian’s foot, which had just stepped forward, was struck by these words and quickly retreated. Jiu Feng, on the side, impolitely let out some kind of mocking laughter.
In the morning mist, Su You silently lifted his eyelids. He knew that what Xue Yu said was indeed the truth.
She was too excellent, so excellent that people around her wanted to help, but had no way to start.
In comparison, whether it was Chao Nian or himself, they were all too weak.
It wasn’t a matter of wanting or not wanting to help, but simply being unable to help at all.
If they couldn’t become strong quickly, then all those debts owed, all those things they wanted to repay, would all be empty words.
The group separated from there. Su You caught a glimpse of that snow-white figure like a wild goose with your peripheral vision. Almost from that moment, he drew out from his heart a vigorous, surging, upward-fighting momentum.
Xue Yu headed straight toward the south of the city.
It was a long, ancient street, with rows of grand residences standing on both sides. Looking down the rows, one could see plaques with gold borders hanging in front of each family’s main gate, with exquisite palace lanterns of various styles suspended from the eaves, corners, presenting a heavy ancient charm.
The time was still early, and most of the main gates were still tightly closed. Only a few houses had opened their side gates, with stewards yawning and carrying lanterns out to shop, their footsteps creating a lazy and scattered rhythm.
Xue Yu didn’t stop, touching down lightly on the eaves like a dragonfly skimming water. The next moment, she had already drifted to the top of another house’s towering ancient tree. Thus, she silently advanced toward the depths of the ancient street, her movement as quiet as a fallen leaf touching the ground.
After a moment, she stopped and took out the map of the southern city she had prepared long ago. Just as she was about to compare it item by item, her gaze unusually paused. She saw that on the map, several places had been carefully circled with a pen, with small notes marked below.
Xue Yu’s fingertip paused in mid-air, then landed on the line that read “South City Xu Family, three generations in business, low possibility,” then moved along the handwriting to see the next line.
—South City Ling Family, moved to Suzhou forty years ago, ancestors once held official positions, later fell into decline. Current family head is weak by nature and fond of women, low possibility.
—South City Xie Family, moved to Suzhou forty years ago, ancestral origins unknown, current family head serves as master of Suzhou Treasure Pavilion, high possibility.
—South City Yun Family, generations living in Suzhou, family head unknown, business unknown, high possibility.
…
All these families she had suspected these days were marked with these brief but easily recognizable notes. In addition, the routes to each family were marked in detail, with attention to detail that was admirable.
Xue Yu thought of that young man who wore any clothing with exceptional elegance, whose raised eyes and smiles were particularly captivating. After a long moment, she pressed down the corners of her lips and had the thought of sending him to the Palace Guard Command for cultivation.
That was the place with the heaviest workload in Yedu, completely under Xue Yu’s control. All three deputy commander positions were vacant, and besides Chao Hua, there was still no one to fill the position of head commander.
It wasn’t that no one wanted to go, but that Xue Yu couldn’t trust others.
The Palace Guard Command directly managed the Hundred Beast Mountain of Yedu, which was full of demons, ghosts, and spirits who had been punished and had nowhere else to go. Among them were many naturally fierce great demons. Therefore, anyone competent for the commander position must first have the powerful martial force to suppress them, and secondly, must have good patience, not flying into a rage over the endless, increasingly numerous, trivial matters that arise daily.
In her previous life, Xue Yu had tried to send Song Heng there after he emerged two hundred years later.
But he wasn’t patient with this work.
He could work tirelessly for months over a single unsolved case involving humans, but when dealing with the demons on Hundred Beast Mountain, he always wore a mask, relying on his naturally good temper to cope.
He even caused several wrongful cases because he was eager to rush out and save people from fire and water without asking for the full story.
For this, Xue Yu had gotten angry several times and coldly reprimanded him several times.
So now, looking back on these matters, there were early signs.
The matter of entering the Palace Guard Command wasn’t urgent. No matter how smart and careful Su You was, his cultivation level was still limited. If he entered Hundred Beast Mountain now, in less than half a day, he could be played around by that group of great demons.
Right now, the most important thing was to find the Worldly Lamp and that alchemist who was well-versed in various evil arts.
Just as Xue Yu was preparing to enter one of the houses to investigate, she saw two people on the opposite rooftop who were also deliberately concealing their auras. The one behind seemed to have received instructions from the person in front and silently waved at her. Seeing that she had spotted them immediately, he waved his hand even faster.
Xue Yu frowned. With a slight movement of her mind, the next instant, she was already in front of them.
Looking, she found they were acquaintances.
“Your Highness Xue Yu.” The young master of Purple Micro Cave Mansion, Sikong Jing, and the disciple who had been waving earlier both bowed to her. The former said clearly: “Last time we didn’t know Your Highness’s identity and offended you greatly. We hope Your Highness will forgive us.”
Xue Yu had some impression of him. After nodding, she said: “When traveling outside, there’s no need for ‘Your Highness’ or anything like that.”
Sikong Jing then accommodatingly changed his address: “Miss Xue Yu.”
“Miss, did you come to Suzhou for the Worldly Lamp?”
“Yes.” Xue Yu asked directly: “You came here—do you have some clues about the Worldly Lamp?”
Speaking of this, Sikong Jing could only smile bitterly. He pulled at the corner of his mouth and said, “A month ago, before Miss Xue Yu climbed the mountain to ask about the Worldly Lamp, my master had already received news of the Worldly Lamp’s loss. He didn’t take it seriously at the time and told us not to worry about it, saying the lamp was useless and it didn’t matter if it was lost. Who knew that more than ten days ago, the old man suddenly returned from his wandering travels and urgently told my junior brother and me to quickly come to Suzhou to find the lamp.”
“He said that the originally inconspicuous lamp suddenly seemed to have some incredible great use, and if someone waited for the right opportunity, the people of Suzhou would face great disaster.” The more Sikong Jing spoke, the more absurd he felt, his mouth turning bitter: “My junior brother and I had no choice. That very night, we packed up and came down from the mountain to Suzhou.”
In summary, it meant one thing: that the master of Purple Micro Cave Mansion was as unreliable as the Heavenly Secret Book.
Sikong Jing’s junior brother continued: “After we arrived here, based on several clues our master gave us, we locked onto several households in the south of the city. We’ve been staking them out day and night these past few days, but so far we haven’t found anything. Yesterday, my senior brother and I happened to hear about an interesting incident that occurred in a southern city household. We felt it was somewhat suspicious, so we wanted to come take a look early today, and then we encountered Miss Xue Yu.”
At this moment, the spiritual talisman at Xue Yu’s waist suddenly began to burn. She saw the two characters “Chao Nian” on it and pointed her slender finger at it.
“Miss.” The jade talisman’s other end was very noisy, filled with the sounds of bustling crowds. What reached Xue Yu’s ears through the jade talisman was Su You’s clear and sharp voice: “Someone died at the Yun Ji Restaurant here, suspected to have been killed by a demon.”
“What?” Sikong Jing’s junior brother’s pupils contracted slightly, crying out in surprise.
“We—” On the other end of the jade talisman, the young man’s words suddenly became lighter. After a pause, he slowly spoke: “Miss, did you encounter old friends in Suzhou?”